News

VIDEO: VolunTEENS, Part 3

Filmmaker Carolina Moraes-Liu presents a monthly series of videos focusing on how teenagers in Palo Alto are finding ways to volunteer throughout the Bay Area.

This third segment focuses on the Teen Arts Council, a group of teenagers who volunteer their time to promote the arts and teen community in Palo Alto and beyond. The group is a part of the Palo Alto Children's Theater.

The Teen Arts Council meets weekly to plan for the events it hosts throughout the year, including open mics, music festivals, dances, readings at the Ronald McDonald House and teen plays. All are welcome to join.

Posted by Take My Money
a resident of Downtown North
on May 8, 2012 at 2:09 pm

Awesome video that shows how volunteering is not just about helping the poor, the disabled and the starving. There's plenty to do within your own peer and social group. I roll my eyes when someone says they are raising money to build a school in some African village. Guess what -- I know that you don't know anything about building schools in Africa, and most of the money raised will be paying the salary of the CEO of some NGO, and that you're only doing this because it looks good in your college application. Instead, how about doing something local and meaningful, and create some acceptance and inclusion in our own elitist bourgeois micro-society in Palo Alto? There's a reason high school kids are throwing themselves in front of trains, or that you need to blow into a breathalyzer before boarding the bus to the Paly prom; and YOU can do something about it by just being nice and unprejudiced to everyone. That's VOLUNTEERING to make a better world -- set the example, starting locally.

Posted by TAC member
a resident of Palo Alto High School
on May 8, 2012 at 8:03 pm

I also want to thank the Palo Alto Children's Theatre for starting the Teen Arts Council initiative that has allowed teens to step up and create these events, specifically Judge Luckey, the Artistic Director at the Children's Theatre, who is responsible for the TAC's existence.